Brief Historical Comparison and Introduction
19th Century France
“France was the fatherland of regulation.”[1] These regulations disseminated from municipal authorities, health authorities, the police and the judiciary system. 19th century France handled prostitution especially harshly under this regulatory framework. While prostitution in France was viewed as a “necessary evil,” it was also viewed as a threat to public morals and public health. Due to this, regulation for prostitutes stemmed from restrictions regarding clothing and appearance, the mandating of health checks, to the careful zoning of the areas in which prostitution were allowed. Examples of these regulations included: the restriction of certain hair-styles and clothing, the illegality of soliciting, and the mandating of public health checks. In this exhibit, two major primary sources give us the most evidence: 19th century police documents from The Paris Police Archives and Parent-du-Châtelet's 1836 sociological study of prostitution, “De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris.”
Contemporary United States
In the United States, the national government leaves prostitution up to each state, with 49 out of the 50 states criminalizing prostitution The only state to legalize prostitution is Nevada. Due to the lack of standardized leiglsation, the policing of prostitution is often erratic and differs greatly by city, neighborhood, and time of day. In the criminalized states, outdoor prostitutes or street-walkers, as opposed to indoor prostitutes or private escorts, are most subject to police abuse, harassment, and even the confiscation of their condoms. Indoor prostitutes are more likely to be using prostitution as a form of survival than outdoor prostitutes. Thus the policing of outdoor prostitutes further disenfranchise those who are already most at risk.
Within Nevada, prostitution is carefully regulated. Brothels are zoned out of town, away from churches, schools, etc. Furthermore, each brothel must undergo a long liscencing process in order to legally set up their brothel. Once liscenced, they are subject to random inspections in which a government officer can at any second suspend their operation. The prostitutes in these brothels must pass a series of mandatory health checks before being approved by the state—they are unable to work if they test positive for a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Finally the customers having sex with these prostitutes are required to wear condoms.
Introduction
19th century Paris and contemporary United States display similar social control over women prostitute’s bodies. This social control disseminates in 19th century France and the contemporary west through both be jure and de facto mechanisms. Examples of these include mandated health checks, the creation of the health center as a locus for social control, and the confiscating of condoms by police for prosecutory evidence. This control simultaneously reflects and reproduces stereotypes of the prostitute as a diseased body that the customer needs protection from.
In this exhibit I begin by exploring mandated health checks in 19th century France and 21st century United States. I proceed to explain how in 19th century France the health center served as a locus for comprehensive social control. Next, I draw parallels from the 19th century France and the contemporary United States using the confiscation of condoms in New York City.
[1] Corbin, Alain. "Commercial sexuality in nineteenth-century France: a system of images and regulations." Representations 14, no. 1 (1986): 986, 209.